Using Adobe Illustrator

I used illustrator to design this practice masthead. The screenshot above is my progress. After editing the way the text looks, I then got a texture to merge with the text. I learned about some of the tools and features such as using the clipping mask which is what merges the texture with the text.

Above is my finished masthead. This was only  practice as it was my first time using Illustrator and I hope to improve it for my future magazine.



Newsstand Task

I went into WHSmith to look at some of the magazines. From looking at these magazines, I can see that they are placed in such a way, that the top left corner of the magazine will always be visible. I believe this is because almost every magazine has their masthead start on the top left corner of the magazine, therefore as long as that part of the magazine is visible, customers will instantly know what it is. Furthermore, I realised that the magazines are split into their respective categories, some magazines are popular enough to have their own section of magazines.

Furthermore, I realised that the magazines that are placed at the back are boosted high enough to see the cover star. I believe this is because customers find the cover star and masthead the most important part of a front cover, therefore WHSmith places these magazines in such a way that both of these things are seen as much as possible.

Preliminary Task - Evaluation

Preliminary Task - College Magazine Contents Page

Preliminary Task - College Magazine Front Cover

Plan - Magazine & Contents Page

My Plan

This is the layout I am planning to use for my front cover, it is also the layout that I used for my mock cover so that I can get an image of how my finished product will look like.

This is the layout I am planning to use for my contents page. It is inspired by a 'VIBE' magazine contents page and I will adapt the layout so that it suits my contents page. 

Using Photoshop - My Mock Cover

The Mock Cover

Above is my magazine mock cover. I used Photoshop to make the cover.

Main Image

This is the photo that I used as my main image in the mock cover. I used the 'Quick Selection Tool' in Photoshop to cut the cover art out of the background and putting it in my magazine. I also used the quick selection tool to highlight the cover star and changing their hoodie colour to orange in order to fit with my orange and black colour scheme.

Background

This is the background that I used for my mock cover. I used to blur feature in order to blur out the background. I did it so that the cover star is more eye catching and so that the text is easier to read.